The Hawaiian gazette., 1887-05-24
who Should own the Baby.


b Only a few weeks ago a wife, abused
Aby her husband, and dependant for
fiyears upon her mother for life's needs,
4 secured at last a divorce, and the
Judge thought he performed an act of
instice when he divided the children,
giving one to each parent. He con
sidered the offspring of marriage,
ssNeven under such circumstances, to be-
i long as much to one parent as to the
other. and in this he did even better
than some judges have done in the
past.
But did the children belong as much
to the father as to the mother? In
animal life. from the lowest to the
\ highest. the young are left mostly to
heNlother's care. Among mammals
she furnishes them nourishment from
her own breast; among other orders
\ ishe generally provides their food till
Fthey have learned to find 1t for them
selves. With mankind, the care of
Z the child at night and in sickness de
wolves upon the mother; she dresses
and undresses it, battles and feeds it,
takes it to walk, instructs it IN morals
K and religion. teaches it to read, and,
late1 in life selects, Its schools and
teachers. and sees that its education
is properly conducted. All these
things it is her duty to do, and she
generally performs it well. The child
and the youth naturally turn to her
fef-help in any doubt or trouble.
n What is the father doing mean
lwhilH If a good parent, he provides
lmoney for the support of his family.
All he earns is his own. He works no
4 harder generally than if unmarried.
N and he doles out what he pleases to
the wife to provide for the house and
family His work takes him away
early in the morning, and does not
allow him to return until evening, so
his young child is scarcely seen by
him save on Sundays and holidays.
On such days, after the mother has
clothed the child in It's best, he per-
haps takes it to walk. and is accounted
careful father if he bring it back
F.clean and whole At night, the mother
fhates to disturb him to supply the
thil6s wants, so she gets up herself
land sattends,to them, only IN an emer-
gency arousing the father to summon
the doctor.
Set the fathers account against the
the mothers and what does it show?
That when each does the appointed
= tasks, the mother comes out ahead,
and fairly earns a greater right to the
lchild by the sweat of her brow, as any
mother Of a child can testify.
But in the special case of which l
!. lspeak. the father had abused the
h ahother, possibly the children too, and
had failed to support any OF them.
lphe mother had done her entire duty,
hnd in addition had by her mother
been provided with the whercwithal
TO sup@rt them. Nothing could be
said against her character, but she had
eraRed faithful mother to her Oft
spring. The death Of the father would
have brought no loss to them or to
her He had done nothing he should
have done. Yet in the face OF all this,
he Judge looked upon the matter as
calmly as if he had been cutting pie
n halves and giving it to two persons
whom he judged to be equal owners.
There was no consideration shown for
he facts in the case. That the man
Neglected to do his duty wasSnot to
,e remarked upon; that the mother,
" doing the work Of both parents,
lad eaEned share to more than half
he property concerned. was too small
thing to be spoken of. There was
no consideration of the fact that the
ather would give the child into the
are of others, perhaps Ignorant hire
ings, over whom he would keep no
areful supervision, satisfied with the
esult If, on the few occasions he saw
he child, it was clean and in decent
condition, and asking himself no ques-
ions as to its education in life. The
bother would perform the work her
ELF; the father could not, nor would
E deem it necessary. And while the
lother, having sadly learned her les
", viii not probably care to- re marry,
&c father, after few months OF years.
lay perhaps take another partner.
nd in his later offspring lose what
yer interAst he once had in his first
biff child.